Ten years ago this week The Fellowship of the Ring was released. Peter Jackson‘s first Tolkien adaption silenced a great many naysayers who said J.R.R. Tolkien‘s novels could never be properly translated to film. It also fostered a mainstream interest in fantasy movies that continues a decade later.

The development of a film based on Tolkien’s original Middle-Earth novel, The Hobbit, was the subject of speculation as soon as Jackson started work on The Lord of the Rings. Actually making the movie was a terrifically complicated process that involved rights deals, the financial solvency of MGM, a long period of development under original director Guillermo del Toro, and the eventual return of Peter Jackson to the director’s chair.

Now the first teaser trailer — a long teaser, at that — has been released for the first of two films based on the novel. Get the first look at footage from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, after the break. Read More »

At this point what more is there to say about yet another dwarf reveal from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey? (Other than, perhaps, “uh, where’s Thorin?”) Here is the latest image dispatch from Peter Jackson‘s version of Middle-Earth, featuring Ken Stott as Balin (on the left) and Graham McTavish as Dwalin.

These two guys are peers, more or less, for Thorin, the dwarf who assembles the company that travels from the Shire to the Misty Mountain. We’ll likely see Thorin next week, and hopefully a couple of the new human character, too. In the meantime, see the full new image below. Read More »

File this under ‘expected:’ Cate Blanchett, who played the elf Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings and provided the opening narration for The Fellowship of the Ring, has joined the cast of The Hobbit. She’ll reprise the role of Galadriel in at least one of the two Hobbit films, though we don’t know which, or if she’ll be in both. In addition, more casting has been announced and/or confirmed, and the info is all after the break. Read More »

Briefly: Here’s your latest small update on The Hobbit. The actor Sylvester McCoy (aka the seventh Doctor Who) has been rumored to be a candidate for a big role in The Hobbit, with some pegging him as a possible Bilbo Baggins. That always seemed a bit absurd, for while he looks the part, he’s rather too old for that role. But he’s not too old to play a wizard. Not that we know he’s up for such a thing, but recent quotes from McCoy are being taken as positive indicators, in the absence of any real confirmation.

“I am being cast in The Hobbit,” the actor told the Argyllshire Standard, a paper in Scotland. “We’re currently in negotiations – there are two of us under consideration. It’s not the Bilbo role, but could be bigger.” The paper says that McCoy is up for “one of the wizard parts.” With Ian McKellen still seemingly set for Gandalf, the other big wizard would be Radagast the Brown, speculates TheOneRing. Not much of an update, but if you’ve been waiting to get positive word on progress for the films, this is a good indicator.